Chapter 27

    Leolik woke up very early and crawled out of the tent. The yellow sun had not risen yet, but it was very bright outside. There was no cat in the basket. Leolik called him:
– Kitty, kitty, Murzik.
    However, there was no answer. Leolik recalled that his collar had been tuned to the cat. He took the collar off his wrist and put it around his neck. He imagined the cat in his mind, but the cat still did not appear.
– How can I find that redhead... Milena'll be upset.
   He walked around the tent, imagining the cat. Then he approached the shore and walked along the water. Suddenly, he clearly felt the vibration from the collar. The further he walked, the stronger the collar was pulsing. After walking about two hundred meters, he finally saw the cat on the shore. The cat was holding a huge fish in his teeth, almost as big as himself. Leolik approached him and took the fish away from him, with difficulty. The fish was huge and scary. He picked up the cat and put him onto the neck like a collar. He grabbed the fish by the gills and headed for the tent. The cat did not object, but he was purring and wagging his tail. When they reached the tent, Leolik cut off a large piece of the fish's tail and gave it to the cat. The cat began to grind the fish bones with a loud crunch, growling
– Murzik, you're our hunter and fisherman! Well done.
   Then Leolik took a hatchet and went to the nearest bushes to chop some branches for the fire. While in the bushes, he relieved himself, did his business, and carefully buried everything. When he returned to the tent, Mila was crawling out of the tent on her all fours.
– Mila! Good morning! – He reached out her hand, hugged her, and kissed the girl.
– Mila, the toilet is over there, in the bushes, – he said, handing her the hatchet.
   Mila gave a smile. She was still sleepy.
   When Milena returned to the tent, they took off all their clothes and went swimming. They were splashing water at each other. They were laughing. They were diving. When they got cold, they grabbed each other's hands and ran to the fire. Leolik was looking at Milena eagerly. The sun had already risen. In its morning rays, gilding Milena's skin, she looked like a goddess to Leolik. Drops of water were glistening on her breasts. Her nipples were hard from the cold and were sticking out like two elastic pillars. Leolik couldn't resist, grabbed the girl, and started kissing her nipples. Milena smiled and helped him, offering him her left breast first, then her right one. Leolik felt his cock getting hard.
– Leolik, I see you wanna fulfill your marital duties, don't you?
   Lelik grabbed Milena and dragged her into the tent. Mila was pretending to resist, screaming in a playful manner.
– Help, I'm being assaulted!
   But as soon as they entered the tent, she began kissing and hugging Leolik.
   They both liked that violence. They were enjoying each other for an hour. The tent was shaking violently. Finally, they got exhausted.
– Leolik, you've been torturing me. But I like this kind of torture. I'd like to have something to eat.
– Mila, the cat caught a fish last night. It's almost as big as the cat itself. What are we gonna do with that fish?
– Leolik, that's great. We could try grilling it as a kebab. I wanna have some grilled fish. Are we gonna with you today or shall we stay here for some time?
– No, Mila. We have to go. The further we get today, the better. They've been looking for us. It's a shame we can't fly. Your potion's run out. I think the King and the Queen'll be very eager to find out your secret.
   They rushed out of the tent again and went swimming. Mila finally got dressed. She braided her hair into two thick pigtails. Leolik gasped when he saw her with pigtails. She changed so much, and these changes delighted him. Mila took his knife and started preparing the fish. Leolik ran into the bushes and chopped some branches for the fire. Mila skewered the pieces of fish onto thin sticks, and they were sitting by the fire and roasting their kebabs.
   The fish was splendid. Mila didn't forget about the spices. Leolik had not eaten anything so delicious even in the palace. Then Mila brewed some tea in the kettle. It was probably grass, but Leolik liked it. He ate until he was full. After such a hearty breakfast, they took a nap into the tent for an hour. They got ready closer to noon. Leolik packed all their things, took down the tent, attached two tent poles to the saddle, put out the fire, and buried all traces of it. He put Milena onto the horse. The cat with his grass basket fit into the backpack behind Leolik's shoulders. He checked the scrap of map again. It showed a two-headed mountain. It was visible on the horizon. Leolik definitely wanted to reach it that day.
   They were walking almost all day. They entered a rocky valley. There were mountains on the left and right, and they moved along the ravine between them. Sparse bushes, grass, rocks. It all looked very picturesque, simply beautiful. Rocks covered with blue lichen. Emerald green grass. Red-brown mountains. White clouds in the blue sky. And silence.
   They approached a rocky scree slope. A landslide must have occurred there long ago. Huge boulders lay before them. Leolik dismounted Milena, and they slowly began making their way between the boulders. Small stones were slipping from under their feet and hooves, causing minor landslides.
– Mila, it's very dangerous here. I don't know, should we turn back?
– Let's go, but very carefully...
   Suddenly, the scree in front of them started moving. When the rocks stopped moving, a human skeleton lay before them. It was almost completely broken. There were bits of hair left on the skull. And here and there were pieces of mummified muscles and skin. He was dressed in a hunter's clothes. The clothes were torn and completely decayed. Leolik had seen such clothes on King Arseniy's hunters. The skeleton was clutching a crossbow in its hands. Next to it there was a quiver with short metal arrows.
– Mila, look! Sure there're no indigenous people on your planet?
– Well, the skeleton looks kinda like human.
– Yeah, but I haven't seen any crossbows at your location. Arseniy's hunters had bows.
   Leolik carefully freed the crossbow and the quiver. There were ten short iron arrows inside. It was all very strange. Leolik chose the largest boulder. Somehow, kicking and coaxing the horse, he dragged it onto the boulder. Then he gathered some heavy stones, stood with Milena onto the boulder, and began throwing stones into the scree.
   He kept throwing stones until they started to crumble. There was a small rockslide. But Leolik kept throwing stones anyway. Finally, he got tired. The scree seemed to stop moving. Again, with great difficulty, they pulled the horse off the boulder. It almost slid off on its hindquarters and neighed wildly. Carefully, step by step, they made their way across the scree. It was only about twenty meters, but it took them almost an hour to overcome the obstacle. Step by step. Further on, the path was more or less clear. Leolik was already thinking about where to spend the night. They walked for another half an hour until he noticed huge holes in the mountain on the left. Caves!
– Mila, there are caves over there! Should we stop there maybe?
– I don't mind, if it's cozy there.
   They approached the caves. There was a variety of them. They walked along them, peering into almost every one. Some were blind. Just a hollow in the rock. Leolik chose one such hollow that was large enough. They went in there with the horse. It was dark in the cave. They could feel the air moving. There was sand on the floor of the cave. This surprised Lelik very much. He didn't know what to do.
– Mila, does it look nice?
– I don't know, let's make a fire.
   Leolik took a big axe he had found in the tower and went to chop some branches. He left Milena and the horse in the cave. He wanted to leave his backpack with the cat, but then decided not to. If he got lost, the cat would find Milena anyway. And so, with his backpack, he left the cave. He planned to look for some water for the horse and chop some branches.
   He chopped some branches. He tied them into a compact bundle with thin branches. He decided to return to the cave. When the guy went inside, there was no one there. Neither the horse, no Milena! At first, Leolik thought he had simply mistaken the cave, but Mara's small hatchet was lying on the sand. Milena was gone. Leolik's blood ran cold. He threw the branches onto the floor of the cave.
– What could have happened?! – he was thinking. Leolik jumped out of the cave and started calling Milena at the top of his voice.
   But only an echo was reverberating in the mountains. He rushed back into the cave, shouting there, but still no answer. He searched all the neighboring caves, but they were different caves. There was no sand on the floor of those caves. Leolik panicked. He was running and yelling until he lost his voice. Milena was nowhere. Suddenly, he thought again about the aborigines of this planet. Perhaps for King Arseniy it made sense to build a refuge as a tower. And that unknown skeleton in the scree. Leolik couldn't calm down. His beloved girlfriend was missing! Meanwhile, the sun had almost set. The cave was covered by the shadow of the mountain. It was dark. Leolik tried to pull himself together. He began thinking. If the girl had been kidnapped, then he wouldn't be able to go looking for her before morning, no matter how much he wanted to.
   He put his hand into his backpack. The cat was there. This calmed him down and sobered him up. The collar was on him. Leolik already knew how it worked. The cat wouldn't let him down. He was sure of that. And whoever those kidnappers were, they would pay dearly for that. He had his knife and axe with him. Leolik leaned against the cave wall and tried to fall asleep. He put the backpack with the cat onto his lap. He put his hand in the backpack and felt the cat's soft, warm fur. He dozed off.